Concept Work
Hey /m/oron! Have any good or interestng ideas for Project ENIS' story? Post them here for the review of your peers! 1. Click "edit" up at the top there. 2. Scroll to the bottom of the window, and type four dashes (-) to create a new line. 3. Begin typing. 4. ???? 5. PROFIT! And please don't delete these instructions or anyone elses suggestions! You may add comments under everybody's suggestions, but don't out right edit! Have fun! ---- Original: ENIS was built to war with the Lion Empire, by a guy seeking revenge against them for the destruction of his society. Unsupported: ENIS was built by the Lion Empire, and the creator spontaneously defects and gives it to some guy when the Lion Empire isn't even around. Original: Va-Ina is a unit initially built before ENIS by the same creator, but is not completed. Va-Ina is later completed separately by the Lion Empire. Unsupported: Va-Ina is built by the professor, who doesn't bother to build in a failsafe to stop it when he defects. ---- Random Clippings from /m/'s August 7-8 story threads: *Is Noland in some way affiliated with the Lion Empire, or is he a rogue, basically composing his own faction, potentially building a lot of monsters-of-the-week monstrosities to throw at ENIS using A-NL and TUL-BAWX's capabilities? Also, WHY is he ENIS' Nemesis? *how bout Noland was a former member of the Lion Empire and went rogue, claiming his mecha A-NL for himself and absconding the TUL-BAWX attachment unit as he layed waste to some Lion base and made his get away. As for relation and motivation to to become ENIS' rival... how about... something pertaining to those little glowy core thingies all the main robots seem to have? *Okay. I'll play. First off, what's the Lion empire. Is that something from another thread or from IRC? If it is, someone should really add that to the Wiki page. it is depressingly bare. Second, Noland. The way I see it, Noland is ENIS' great rival. Perhaps early in the series or sometime before the series, Ohta handed Noland a decisive defeat, and Noland has become obsessed with using A-NL to defeat ENIS. I'm inclined to believe that he is a freelance warrior. His goal is to defeat ENIS, and he reoccurs every now and again (but not TOO often, as you always have to leave the audience wanting more) but every time they are either interrupted by the latest MOTW or whatever circumstances arise (like if Ohta has a token Emo period, he won't fight back, thus A-NL leaves, determined to come back whan Ohta has regained his FIGHTING SPIRIT). He is basically honorable, though he sometimes will team up with the true villans to achieve his goal. Towards the end, extenuating circumstances cause ENIS and A-NL to team up and fuck up the collective shit of the real badguys. Afterwards they are finally allowed to have their honorable duel. ENIS probably wins, which will cause MANLY TEARS to flow. *The Lion Empire was the original set of villains for ENIS. IN addition to having a fleet or more of their generic troops, those being the fighters/cruisers/battleships that resembled sword hilts (There's a picture in the archive, IIRC, of ENIS fighting a Lion Empire Fleet), the Lion Empire created the Va-Ina, and Ada fights on their side before eventually defecting to join ENIS at an as-yet undetermined time and for an as-yet undetermined reason. I like the idea of Noland as his own villainous faction, but I also like the idea of him manufactoring MotWs to 'test' ENIS from time to time, thus being slightly less than a raw honorable villain. Althouh, naturally, he should still have a penchant for A TRUE MAN'S BATTLEFIELD to be found in a duel between worthy opponents. And before considering how he makes use of A-NL (Or alongside it), We really need to determine how he acquired it. Was it constructed with his own blood, sweat, and tears? Was it stolen (Perhaps from the lion empire)? Or was it a stolen frame that Noland modified to suit his own needs? *I like the idea of using an Exaxxion-style scenario. The Lion Empire is the unstoppable invasion force (Or whatever their nefarious goal is), and there is a government/military of some sort attempting (With little to no success) to fend them off. Probably on an interplanetary scale, with much of the ENIS action taking place on or near a 'hub' planet (Or maybe more) which is a necessary waystation for long-range space travel of whatever sort ends up being used. Therefor, important for adequate military support for a final invasion push on the disheveled government, and the (current) last line of defense. Project ENIS would be a separate entity, basically a small resistance movement initially headed by a mad scientist, possibly with some later-signed-on support/repair crew. Project ENIS would eventually join forces with the disheveled government, and they would make the Mass-Produced ENIS models as an upgrade to their military force in order to support ENIS in throwing back the invasion force. *There's always the dogmatic idea that the universe belongs to them, and everything in it must bow before them or be swept from the mortal coil. It's hackneyed, but it works. More ideas to choose from is always a good thing, though. Also, since Ada is with them, are the Lion Empire also humans? Or are they Human-Like aliens? Or are they a massive conglomeration of many types of aliens that includes subjugated human cultures? *Ada could be a human from a different planet, which would explain her psychic abilities (if she still has them). She could view Earth humans as inferior, which would be her motivation to side with the Lions. While I'm at it, the "Lion" empire could just be a name. Sort of like how "Britannia" is really the entire world. That would explain the mecha-bears. *I'm thinking human-like aliens, similar to the Balmar empire in origin. *I liked the MP ENIS' to be badguys, but I guess that's just Evangelion's MP EVAs talking. I Like the Waystation idea. It gives him a place to be and an ultimate goal (defend the planet from invaders) and drives home the fact that this is ultimately just one skirmish in a bigger intergalactic war. Good. Now we're rolling. How about the scientist was forced to develop VA-INA and A-NL for the Lion empire, but he was rescued and defected and helped to design the ENIS. Ohta comes in, Right place at the right time. BAM! ENIS chooses him. Adventure starts. It could be during this first "episode" where he ends up facing off against Noland(the pilot of a Grunt/Command unit), and, using his inborn hotblood and resolve, gives Noland a defeat, but leaves him alive, thus setting up Noland's obsession. This causes Noland to have a new purpose, awakening his inner HOTBLOOD, which causes A-NL to choose him. They fly off together and Noland becomes this wildcard third party. *>How about the scientist was forced to develop VA-INA and A-NL for the Lion empire, but he was rescued and defected and helped to design the ENIS. Perhaps his planet/culture was one of the last ones to be washed over by the Lions? He bailed out, leaving an incomplete Va-Ina and A-NL on the planet to be captured and completed by the Lions; and then, cursing his weakness for abandoning his people or somesuch, which awakens an inner fire that allows him to construct ENIS, which he uses to attempt to destroy th Lions once and for all. He ends up mortally wounded in battle, and his lingering will selects Ohta in typical Super Robot fashion. *I like this idea. could there be a grand enemy nation at war with the Lion Empire? Like the enemy made a grab for some other their worlds and sparked off a conflict and now the Lions are seeking ANY way they can to acquire strategic locations and material resources in the hopes of staying on their feet. And all those poor independent worlds are stuck in between two space titans locked in an epic struggle. But this great enemy keeps sending elite units to distrupt their efforts behind the Lion Empire's lines. Codename: "Masters Of Tactical Warfare" (MOTWs) just an idea i had *Perhaps Ohta and Noland have some sort of past history, like they both worked in a mine. Ohta is a reckless digger, breaking any rock he comes accross, while Noland is more meticulous in his work and chooses to build things rather than destroy them. However, his professional rivalry with Ohta leads to his work degrading and he is finally kicked off of the mining team. He goes back to his workshop and sets about making the blueprints for the TUL-Bawcs system, though he doesn't have the means to build it. Then the Lions invade, and he sides with them. He discovers that the Lions possess an incredible amount of resources, so he sets about creating his masterwork. It's finally finished, and he deploys to squish Ohta... until he finds out that Ohta has received ENIS. *That would work. Noland could still defect to the Lions and apply the Tul-Bawks to whatever POS grunt bot the lions give him. That way the war really is Real Robots ("The Government") vs. Super Robots ("Lion Empire") with a lot of freelance mechs in between. And that way, late in the series, the Lions could somehow copy ENIS's schematics (Perhaps Ada gives them to the Lions before she turns back to the good side) and create an army of super grunts. I.E. The Mass-Produced ENIS. What is the "Government" called anyway? *The Government: Federation of Allied Planets. *>Federation of Allied Planets >FAP I see what you did there... *Oookay... Lets work with that. Although I don't know how she would have gotten ahold of VA-INA if she was just a mercenary. Perhaps when the Lions were hiring mercs they were checking for compatibility with the HOTBLOOD-powered Operating system on VA-INA and found a match with Ada. So when she was hired, they gave her the VA-INA to use. Ada and Ohta meet on the battlefield in ENIS and VA-INA ("A girl? On a battlefield?" "Not a girl... a woman."). Love blooms, as Otacon would say. Perhaps she's drawn to his misplaced, reckless heroism, even though she says she despises it. For instance, He saves her life from something, even though she's the enemy, in retaliation, she yells at him, not knowing what to think about that act. So, Once the MP units (or whatever super weapon they develop) are finished, she becomes expendable, and has to escape with VA-INA and her life to the only one she knows will accept her. Ohta. *I'm not suggesting we make one up now, but one of these days we'll have to come up with a Big bad motherfucker to be the leader of the Lion Empire. Just keep that in mind for future ENIS developments. *To throw out ideas: 1.Lions are a large and hungry race that must constantly expand and devour more and more in order to support their massive civilization. 2.Cliche "Humans are the most powerful beings in the universe, we must crush them!" plot. 3.Lions view the destruction of civilizations as the ultimate form of sport. Ours is deemed a suitably challenge. 4.The Professor somehow arrives on Earth after his own civilization is eaten/destroyed/absorbed into the lion empire (whatever) and he takes ENIS with him, prompting the Lion to hunt it down. 5.Lions are mysterious badasses who just attack you and you beat them but you never learn why they attacked you or really,anything about them. 6.Lions have come due to manifest destiny to claim the whole universe. 7.Earth, way back when, fought and defeated the Lions and then they both regressed back to a caveman like state due to the sheer devastation the war caused. The Lions evolved back faster than humans and started anew the war. *Then there's always the 'back in our past we launched a probe or something that ended up destroying something of theirs' I think I might be stealing that from a voyager ep though.. *or for hilarity, their culture was influenced by TV waves sent out in the 1970s-1980s. Thats right, their first contact with an alien race was our giant robot shows. *Or they could return the probe to us by launching it into one of our cities, since that's how we sent it to them and they think it's how we give those kinds of things to people over here. The Lions are actually nice, thoughtful guys who are forced into war because we take their probe returning the wrong way and attack them like the jerks we are. * Comment: I think I'd like to take this raw stuff and refine it into a good backstory for the setting and characters. This is pretty good. Do we generally like what we have here? *''Question:'' Well, we need to come up with a reason for why the Lions want to fight ENIS/FAP so badly, but other than that, yeah, this stuff fits pretty well! * Answer: Well, i think that in the thread, we decided that Ohta's homeworld is an important staging ground/waypoint in an intergalactic war between Lions and FAP (But of course, we will not expand on this intergalactic war. it is merely a backdrop. If we ever do a Real Robot path, we can focus on it all we want, but the SR path needs the simple Good v. Evil structure). Whoever controls the planet will inevitably rule the universe. ENIS, of course, must stop this, as the Lions are EEEVIL and it puts Ohta's home in danger. ---- Here's another way to start off: The typical "Country/planet about to be invaded by empire plans something" type So, let's say there is not only the Lion empire but also some other BIG factions, let's say two other big empires/allied nations whatever. Two of them, being directly neighbours had a big war long time ago, but had peace for a good while now. And recently, the third big faction arose slowly by contracts it made with surrounding smaller spacecountries and systems, forming an Allied nation. Officially, this is said to be an economic treaty for better trade and economic whatever things. but those two big empires are suspicious because there seems to be more than it looks like, rumors about planets forced to join, or joining soon after mysterious changes in their government happened. Things go haywire as some midsized three planet system officially declines to join that alliance and the alliance goes "fuck diplomatics, eat lead!" and prepares to invade. As this system we're talking about is rather precious because it has not only many resources but also a gateway for interstellar travel for REALLY big ships, one of the big nations assumes, that the new Allied Nations wants to use this system as a headway for war against them, and want to invade them too. And since the third big empire can't sit out in this one, they join in because they fear to have a disadvantage in the shift of power. meanwhile, in said 3 planet system three superrobots are constructed to defend the three planetes against the (to this point) mass produced real mech troops from the three invading big players. as they are transported to the different planetes, VA-INA gets seized by the Allied nations (and is later given to Ada), AN-L by one of the two big countries (Which ends up with Noland), and one is activated in time to fend of the third big empirebefore it is stolen. It is ENIS , piloted by testpilot Ohta Kobayashi. ---- ENIS's enemies are "attacks" engineered, in one way or another, be beings fighting a Time-war against mankind, and processes that created all the monsters and army's that ENIS fights are the works of a master nemesis against humanity (a Master like being, if you will), and ENIS was (by means of an implanted genetic memory placed in the Professor so he would build it at some stage in his life) a weapon sent from the future to defend mankind from the strikes in the Time-war. ---- For some reason, I really like the idea that the Lions are attacking because they simply misunderstand what war means to humans. Let's say that we roll with the idea that they received super-robot shows from the '80's. Odds are they received the commercials too, which would make it clear that these shows are for children. And if they're children shows, then OBVIOUSLY the show must showcase some kind of game. So the Lion leader makes himself all heavily muscled and evil-looking in order to open contact with the humans and make them feel comfortable with his appearance. And then they attack, which is OBVIOUSLY the way to greet them. And then when FAP begins to fight back it's OBVIOUSLY the start of a game. And that game won't be finished until one side has completely conquered the other. OBVIOUSLY. In short, the Lions see the whole thing as a round of Starcraft. Heck, maybe the Lions could constantly send FAP mysterious messages asking them to explain "the rules." I just have this image of Ohta finally fighting his way to the Lion's leader, seeing this monstrous looking dude...and then the Leader politely offering him a cup of tea. The two sit, chat, maybe try and talk this whole war thing out. And then the following occurs: *Leader Dude: Well, shall we continue with the game? *Ohta: Game? *(Leader dude leaps up and SLAMS his fist into Ohta's face) *Leader Dude: You humans have such odd games. I do hope we're playing well. ---- After seeing his entire world and everyone he loved and everything he cared about on it ended, spending a godawfully long time developing a mecha to fight them, and going insane due to being old and from piloting ENIS, he is absolutly batshit when he happens on Ohta. I'd say that at this point the Lion Empire is invading (or sending one of its slave races to invade, whatever) and are generally wreacking havoc on Ohta's city. ENIS appears and starts kicking ass, but then suddenly crashes through a building after getting hit by a particularly nasty attack. Ymus, being especially insane due to the levels of adrenline coarsing through his body from the battle and from being wounded (from both the G-forces on his frail, old body and from the damage the enemy just inflicted on ENIS) and basically walks up to Ohta and says "Hey kid! You know how to drive? Yeah? GET YOUR ASS IN THERE!" and dies. Ohta gets plugged into the ENIS and, after a few missteps, realizes he can contol ENIS with his thoughts, and then proceeds to drill the entire enemy force out of the sky. I can see it starting like that. ---- How about if Noland and Ada were part of a special task force (call it G-RO aka Ghost-Response Operatives or something), so we can introduce some secondary characters riding other innuendo inducing mecha. ALso we can have Noland chase after the ENIS as a 'call of duty' and it later turns into a personal grudge. Later on the Lion empire could develop some kind of mind-control ability enhancing Project "d", using the members of G-RO as test subjects. Ohta saving Ada from the project would trigger her defection. ---- Someone needs to develop background story on all the factions by updating their pages, then we can start changing and adding details as well as discuss here rather than keep throwing ideas and never get any bg progress. *Well... since you said so. I'll just go for it... ---- Possible story for Jlaw, MOAR and SAUCE those monsters actually are part of a new evolutive technology project of a scientist who in appearance works for the Lion empire but actually was using them to create the ultimate weapon and seize Lion empire's military power. He planned the berserk incident that released those machines and planted an organic core (nameless loli) in the Jlaw as basic CPU for the initial stage where those machines are still immature and haven't reached their potential, thus needing to feed them with the battle experience of the living core via the LURK MOAR system When Jlaw is defeated by ENIS and it's pilot rescues the loli organic core of the Jlaw, the machines have evolved to the point where they no longer need of a human to feed them basic data and fight on their own, so MOAR and SAUCE fight separated against ENIS and later as a team to avenge the defeat of Jlaw, but they are eventually defeated when ENIS reveals it's newest hissatsu move that destroys them. Later, those machines regenerates thanks to the self regenerative GET cells which they were made and the three return with the mad scientist, who then reveals his diabolical plan. the scientist further upgrades the machines, installing the combination device needed and prepares to mass produce them and delete the free will part of their AI to make of them mindless machines only programmed to follow the scientist's order, however he's killed by his own creations when they acquire conscious about their existence and how they will cease to exist if the inferior organic creature deletes their ability to think. those machines becomes primogenitors of a new enemy group composed of war lusting machines that considers organic creatures to be made of FAIL and starts a plan to wipe out everything organic and produce mechanical replacements to create a robot utopia. The mad scientist will have as temporary name Dr. Meme Chan and the AI system installed in his creations is named MEME system. Dr. Chan is a rival of the creator of ENIS. **Comments: Too many memes, needs less Loli. Norma is the Project ENIS token loli, and more is not better. It's also very strange for Dr. Nomos to have a Lion-Empire-based Rival given his short stint as a 'citizen' of the empire. ---- guys how about this, let's say that the 'unknown unit' Nolan is piloting in the intro is a CF-06, and the intor story for Lion Empire's forces will be that "They use their army of monsters and select robots to pummel FAP, then after the CF-06 get's its many variations the Lions mass produce the ENIS by taking battle data from CF-06 and ENIS, thus giving it's shape in the spritesheet. That would also explain why Nolan was operating a CF-06 because it would be a unit stolen by the Lions for research purposes, but Nolan steals it and fights Nomos with it. *comment: It might be interesting, but why would Noland pilot a CF-06 of all things? Remember, i'm pretty sure Noland is on an official mission from the Lion Empire when he attacks Ohta's hometown and gets attacked by Nomos, so why would the empire give him one of FAP's vastly inferior mechs to use? Also, Why would Noland be using the CF-06 in the first place if it was meant for research purposes? Remember, Noland is on the lion's side at that point in the story. He doesn't break away until after he gets defeated by ENIS and gains his inner HOTBLOOD that allows him to pilot the A-NL. *comment on above: perhaps the unit could be GR3-Y Fox lion side's MP unit *That fits... A GR3-Y Fox with the Tul-Bawcs attached. Sounds good. ---- A fourth power, the Altrian empire. They are a race of mechanized beings from the far reaches of the universe. Their military uses no mechs, because their bodies are essentially the same as human machines. While their race is a generally peaceful one, dedicated to science and technology, their military is exceedingly brutal. Under the command of Admiral Benedictus (the Altrians are also quite religious, believing in a sort of 'machine god' that built them) *fuck, ran out of ideas. Will possibly update later. Possibility for a Spin-On here; not going to be used in the first series for simplicity's sake. ---- I was thinking of Ohta having a childhood friend who's a delinquent but is somewhat hot-blooded. Not like kamina, but more like half kamina and half typical street punk. He keeps up the image of a street punk because it gives him an excuse to fight and blow off steam, but secretly he would like to put his violence to good use like a superhero would. When he sees that Ohta is driving an awesome mech, he thinks he should be the one piloting it. He believes he already has the courage to stand up to the enemy and kick their asses. While I don't think he'll get ENIS, he might be placed in like a derivative mech FAP is working on, at the behest of Ohta. He will spend some time in the mech "teaching" Ohta how to be a man and stand up for yourself and don't take anybody's shit. Unfornately, FAP will be attacked and the only one close enough to do any meaningful defense is him. He gets manhandled like he was nothing, but his dream of being a super hero pushes him further. Eventually the enemy kills him, just in time for Ohta to show up and witness his death. Ohta then goes on a fucking revenge fury, tearing the enemy apart. It would be like the starting point of Ohta's development into attaining true GAR. I can't think of a good name for him though. -Possibility: Ohta will meet up with a FAP Super Robot Prototype test pilot and befriend him. He becomes an older brother figure to Ohta, and dies fighting D's RAEP, in a brutal and bloody way that establishes the fight between him and D. "Ohta then goes on a fucking revenge fury, tearing the enemy apart. It would be like the starting point of Ohta's development into attaining true GAR." ---- Gar Crystals: The colored spheres that VA-INA and ENIS have but A-NL does not. Semi-sentient, choosing their own "masters". A pilot's Hotblood awakens them, allowing them to basically power-up a mecha. They supply massive amounts of power, equivalent to a star, to the mecha, allowing to do things like repair damage it took before activation, create weapons, transform certain parts, etc. depending on the mecha's design. A mecha not designed for a Gar crystal wouldn't be able to take such an advantage of the crystals, but they would provide a small powerup for a short time. There are only 200 in the galaxy, and the Lion Empire possesses 115 of them, with 88 being used in Crush Engine alone, Emperor Kamjin's mecha/battleship. They are not a power source in themselves; a mecha has to have a seperate power reactor for normal operation, nor do all super robots have them. They simply allow a different Super Robot type to be built. Sort of "Gurren Lagann vs Voltron/Gundam" type mecha. They can be used in non-mecha weapons as well, but their powers are drastically reduced. Professor Nomos' race lives in a travelilng Dyson Sphere-like vessel, about the size of Charon(?) They possessed a vault of Gar Crystals, kept safe for millenia since their planet was destroyed in a devastating war. This was why the Lion Empire attacked them. Second half of series: Gar crystals are revealed to be refugees of another dimension, who fled a great enemy. They fought it and each other, because they are naturally ambivalent to one another's presence, unless controlled, and so lost. The survivors fled to this universe and scattered across it, with 200 ending up in this galaxy. Because of the differences in environment, they were forced to assume crystal form (Heroic Age, Hero Race-type species originally, now various shape and size crystals). In this universe, they became semi-dormant, but can be awakened with the right stimulus, like detecting the ancient enemy of theirs. Then they wake up and try to find hosts to fight the foe; thus Kamjin arose. Kamjin fights to gather together all the Gar crystals; the development of mobile suits meant that the crystals, which are most compatible with mobile suit technology, would eventually be used, and fighting a massive war with mobile suits would mean that as many crystals as possible would be found and used in the war, thus gathering them together. The crystals be taken by Kamjin, who has the power and ability to persuade them to help him to power Crush Engine, the only thing that comes close to the power of the Heroic Race at its peak in this dimension. Kamjin knows of the threat, and so is fighting to save the universe, not simply to conquer it. Alternative: Gar crystals are the souls of Planets themselves. Other things same as before. * Lion Empire: 115 * FAP: 13 * Project Enis: 3 * Still not found: 76 Mecha Origin: Professor Nomos designed ENIS, VA-INA, and A-NL mecha to utilize Gar crystals, though ENIS was the only one completed at the time Nomos' civilization was conquered by the Lion Empire. VA-INA was a testing model, similar to the training EVAs in Evangelion, that was used to test more advanced versions of ENIS' operating system, different power source, and different weapons. The Gar Crystal was already inserted when the Lion Empire captured it, though the unit was not battle-ready and was only half-built. With A-NL, it lacked the Crystal, and was mostly just a blueprint, with the core system already built. So the Lion Empire completed building both of them when other attacks failed, and Ada and Abrams took them to battle, with Ada going first and Abrams a few episodes later, lacking a crystal but possessing a conventional power source. ---- D: D stands for a codename or something, not sure yet. A biological weapon, who pilots all manner of mecha and monsters to fight ENIS, and loses a lot. Will eventually end up piloting the Super Robot Raep and later, RaePost. Whenever D is defeated, it dies, and is reborn in a clone body, though after a few engagements, the bodies start to differentiate from the original encountered host due to cellular mutation from continuous revival and damage from encountering high levels of Gar energy. D will likely appear to be male for the initial encounters, and for a few more, but eventually will end up with various female bodies. Look to the image archive, where there is that collection of faces and the one face of the crazy girl shouting. That's after D gets Abrams, who by then is a renegade, to fall in love with her (though not on purpose) and is shouting "I'm a man!!!" while attacking in a storm rage and awkward feelings. :P Will he/she/it have a Good End or a Bad End? Not sure yet. ---- Possibility that Ohta will have a love interest left behind on his home planet. The initial few parts follow Ohta in his quest to free his home planet and find his beloved, to find that she died fighting the Lion's as part of a resistance movement. ---- Hyperspace Travel: Ships travel in an alternate dimension that is "higher" than the current dimension. It is a liquid-like environment, where ships travel in bubbles realspace within the liquid of hyperspace, barely under their own control. The bubbles are constantly being squeezed by hyperspace, which provides the momentum of hyperspace travel. The smaller the bubble, the harder the pressure is and the faster the trip; vice versa applies here. To describe it, hyperspace travel is like being the wet bar of soap being squeezed in the shower; the soap has no control over where it ends up unless it is aimed properly. To stop, ships have to hit certain catchment areas, typically lagrange points between planets and moons. This confines travel to certain corridors between solar systems, the safest path between one system to another systems catchment point. Generally, catchments at the edge of the solar system are larger and easier to hit than catchments deeper in the system, though gas planet catchments win in terms of size and inner planet catchments in terms of stability. ---- Lion Empire pilots are arranged into "Knight Orders," somewhat similar to the FAP's regiments. However, rather than grouping orders into the same fleets the Empire chooses to split orders up between ships in order to promote competition between knights and heighten the knights' aggressiveness. There are over a thousand Knight Orders in the Empire, some of them species-specific.